The former international cricket star Imran Khan rode to victory in the 2018 general election on a pledge to end corruption.

He turned to politics in 1996 with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which achieved a breakthrough at the national level in 2013. It went on to hit the conservative Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government of Nawaz Sharif with accusations of graft.

During the 2018 campaign Mr Khan faced accusations - which he denied - of being the favoured candidate of Pakistan's powerful army, and that military intelligence was working to discredit his rivals.

The PTI party won 116 of the 272 seats up for grabs, and joined with several smaller parties to form a majority in parliament.

Mr Khan's critics accuse him of appeasing Islamist extremists and of being vague about his plans to tackle poverty, economic stagnation, and other deep-seated social problems.

MEDIA

Pakistan is one of the world's deadliest countries for journalists, with 14 media workers being killed in 2014 alone. Both intelligence agents and members of banned militant organisations are responsible for the threats to reporters, according to media watchdog organisations.

The government uses legal and constitutional powers to curb press freedom and the law on blasphemy has been used against journalists. Critics have raised concerns over the restrictive nature of a new code of conduct for broadcasters introduced in 2015.